


I'm not so sure about fate (but if you're happy, then I'm okay with it)

by Floople_Doople



Series: I will face the Goddess and walk backwards into hell (if it means I get to protect you) [3]
Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: ???? - Freeform, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Canon stabbed me in the back so I kicked it in the face, Comedy, DONT WORRY THE OCS ARE THERE FOR LIKE 5 SECONDS, Fluff, How Do I Tag, Hurt/Comfort, Love Confessions, M/M, Major Character Injury, Me: ...ah, Me: haha rip the sap who has to edit this mess, Me: remembers im the only one working on this and therefore both the writer and editor, Most of this was written at night aand it shows, Sibling Bonding, Sick Character, Slow Burn, Slow Burn but from an outside view, WHY ARE THERE SO MANY INCEST TAGS YALL, i dont know what i'm doing, i made like 3 tags just for this fic, uhhh, uuuhhhh, what do you call writing from the perspective of a nine year old? idk
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-28
Updated: 2019-10-28
Packaged: 2021-01-05 12:43:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 10,829
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21208748
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Floople_Doople/pseuds/Floople_Doople
Summary: Hilda was definitely surprised to hear that there was gonna be a new recruit under Holst's command. He hadn't gotten a new recruit in forever. But as soon as they met, Hilda knew one thing for sure.Holst fell in love way too easily, in her opinion.Aka: im so deep in rarepair hell ive entered a brand new dimension





	I'm not so sure about fate (but if you're happy, then I'm okay with it)

**Author's Note:**

> THIS WAS SUPPOSED TO BE SHORT. WHAT. THE. FUCK. HAPPENED.

Hilda heard a lot of things. Sure, both Dad and Holst tried to keep her from hearing some stuff, but at some point they realized that it was a losing battle. At this point, it wasn’t uncommon to see Hilda sitting in the room somewhere, listening in while they spoke. Today was no different; although, maybe it should have been. 

“There is a new recruit that you are to meet today,” Dad began, much to both Holst’s and Hilda’s confusion.

“A new recruit?” Holst raised an eyebrow, as Hilda tilted her head in confusion. “I wasn’t aware of this. When did we pick up this new recruit?”

“Quite recently. In an excursion near Fodlan’s Throat, actually.” 

At that, Holst raised an eyebrow. Hilda remembered - it was one of the few battles lately that Holst wasn’t allowed to participate in; the main reason she remembered was because Holst had protested loudly about it...until Dad mentioned that he thought Holst would be glad to spend more time with his “little baby sister”.

He was. And the entire time Father was gone, he had practically smothered Hilda, to the point where she considered sending a letter to Dad urging him home because Holst was being _ that _ overbearing.

Seeing as how neither Holst nor Hilda said anything, Dad continued.

“I thought you would approve, Holst, seeing as how you still had an open position. The new recruit is a young man - around your age, actually - who was working as a mercenary in the village there. His fighting skills were exceptional, so I offered him work as a part of your battalion.”

Holst seemed unconvinced, giving Dad a weird look. After a sigh, Dad continued.

“The only reason he was working as a mercenary at all was to support his little brother.” Holst’s eyes had widened at that, staring at Dad with his mouth slightly open. “So when I offered the position to him, explaining that he would be getting a steady pay, he gratefully accepted.”

Then Dad’s eyes twinkled in that way that they normally did, whenever he had planned something; whether it was a present or a prank.

“Besides,” he started, looking to Hilda, “I was certain that I heard you wishing for friends other than your brother.”

Hilda pouted. Okay, maybe she _ had _ said that, but she wasn’t expecting Dad to actually hear her! And she definitely wasn’t expecting him to say anything about it to Holst. Mostly because of what was about to happen.

Holst turned to stare at her, a hand over his heart as he gasped dramatically. Though his expression screamed betrayal, his eyes held that same playful twinkle as Dad’s. 

“Other friends? Hildy, I’m hurt!” He proclaimed loudly, his voice full of hurt as he fake-sniffled. Hilda wrinkled her nose at the nickname. “Don’t you love your older brother? Am I not enough for you?”

“I really do need more friends than just you!” She huffed, crossing her arms as she stomped her foot. “Being friends with only my brother isn’t exactly a good thing!”

Dad laughed a bit, before saying, “The new recruit should be arriving soon; I told him to come to the manor so that you could meet him yourself. He should be bringing his little brother as well, so you can see if he meets your standards Hilda.”

Holst seemed a bit surprised at that, but he smiled and nodded. Hilda tilted her head in confusion. 

“Already? How do you know that he isn’t actually an…” She paused, trying to think of the word. It started with an a, she knew that, but… “...an awful person.”

_ Nailed it. _

“It’s all in the eyes, Hilda.” Dad even pointed to his own eyes a bit for emphasis. “You’ll understand when you get older.”

At that, Hilda wrinkled her nose again. Understand when she’s older? What’s that supposed to mean? She was a whole nine years old, that’s old enough! Holst just laughed, ruffling her hair as she groaned and swatted his hand away. She didn’t need her hair getting messed up right now, thanks!

“So he’s gonna be arriving soon with his little brother, right?” Holst asked, Dad nodding in response. Then he scooped up Hilda in his arms, ignoring her protests as he grinned. “Great! Then let’s get ready to greet them!” 

He ran off towards the entrance hall, a still-protesting Hilda trying to wiggle out of his arms to no avail. To be fair though, she wasn’t really trying to get out of his hold - if she was, she would’ve gotten out by now.

Hey, she didn’t really feel like walking all the way to the entrance hall anyway. At least she got a free ride, though she still had to keep up appearances. She couldn’t very well let Holst know that she enjoyed being carried around by him. If he ever found out, he’d probably insist on carrying her everywhere - and as enjoyable as that sounds, she found that she didn’t really care for it all that much.

They had just gotten to the entrance hall, Holst finally putting her down and laughing when she playfully smacked him on the arm, when one of the servants walked up to them. 

“Milord, two guests have arrived. The elder claims that he was told by your father to see you,” he said, bowing as he spoke.

“Let them in! Dad already told me that we’d be having visitors!” Holst responded, smiling as the servant bowed again and left to go let whoever this new recruit and his little brother were supposed to be.

After waiting a moment, the servant returned with the presumed recruit and his little brother walking alongside him. Both had bright red hair, though the little brother had honey-amber colored eyes while the older had more fire-gold ones. The younger brother had a rather wide grin, though something about it felt off. Like he was just trying to make her think that he was smiling rather than actually smiling.

It was kinda hard to explain.

The older brother was smiling too, but he seemed a lot more nervous than his little brother. Hilda tilted her head in confusion at that; sure, Holst could be scary sometimes, but that was only if he was getting angry-protective over her or fighting on the battlefield. And he wasn’t doing either of those things right now. So why was he so nervous?

Hilda looked up to Holst, to maybe try and tell him to say something to make the guy less nervous, and she froze. Because Holst was staring, completely wide-eyed and mouth open. Hilda could almost see the hearts in his eyes.

Oh. Oh no. No, no _ way _. No way, this could not be happening.

Before she could even say a word, a big dopey grin grew on his face and he practically ran up to the new guy, stars in his eyes and taking the new guy’s hands in his. Hilda just groaned. She knew her brother had, in Dad’s words, a whole lot of love to give.

She just didn’t think that meant he’d fall head over heels for some guy he just met! Hilda thought that was just a fairy tale thing!

The older brother stiffened up so much when Holst grabbed his hands, Hilda thought he turned into a statue. The little brother wasn’t much better - his weird smile had completely vanished, in favor of his jaw basically dropping to the floor.

“So, you’re the new recruit, am I right?” Holst said, staring directly at the guy. After a moment, he nodded. “Of course you are! May I know the name of the newest member in my battalion?” 

“M-Miklan,” the new guy - Miklan, apparently - said, eyes darting around as if he was waiting for something to come leaping out at him.

“And I’m Sylvain.” The younger brother appeared between them, pushing Holst away with that weird smile back on his face. “His little brother who’d like you to back up a bit, thanks.”

To his credit, Holst did back up. That didn’t change the hearts clearly flying around his head. Admittedly, Hilda felt a little bad for Miklan - Holst wasn’t gonna be letting up with his displays of affection anytime soon. Sylvain was gonna have to be around a lot more if he was going to try and deter Holst at all. 

“My apologies, Sylvain. I was just so caught off guard by how breathtakingly handsome your brother is.” Holst’s dopey grin only grew as he gazed at Miklan, the latter looking away with a rather uncomfortable expression. Hilda nearly gagged - _ really _ Holst? “First training session will be tomorrow at noon. Or, I can move it to today if it suits you!”

“N-No, tomorrow is fine. I suppose I shall see you then.” Miklan turned to walk away, Sylvain grabbing his hand. Hilda thought, okay, that was that, and she could _ probably _ deal with Holst’s lovesick rambles until tomorrow, when Miklan would be back for training. 

And then her brother said what was, in her opinion, probably one of the stupidest things he’s ever said in his life.

“Wait! Where are you staying tonight? Are you sure you and your brother will be alright?” Holst began, stepping towards them both.

Miklan had turned back around, eyes wide in what had to be panic as his eyes darted around. “I-I’m certain that we’ll be fine-”

“But are you sure?! If not, you are welcome to stay here!”

“WHAT?!” Both Hilda and Sylvain had practically screeched at that, staring at her brother with wide eyes. 

“Holst, you cannot be serious, we _ just _ met them-”

“Mik, you can’t just agree to this-!”

Both she and Sylvain turned to their brothers, in complete disbelief over Holst’s offer. Holst was still staring straight at Miklan, completely ignoring his own little sister! And when she was trying to be the sensible one for once too!

“That’s - that is very kind of you, but we can’t possibly-!” Miklan tried to say, but Holst ended up cutting him off.

“It’d be no trouble, really! Not at all! If it ensures yours and your brother’s safety, then I will happily offer! Do not worry about it at all!” Holst was quick to say, hands waving around as if that’d convince them.

Hilda had to intervene.

“I’m really, really sorry,” Hilda started saying, “but my big brother is just...like that. He’s just trying to be nice, I promise.”

Completely ignoring Holst’s loud protest of “Hey!”, Hilda just smiled as best as she was able to with her brother completely embarrassing himself. Sylvain, for his part, just snickered a bit. Miklan’s shoulders slumped a little bit when Hilda said that, an awkward sort of smile on his face. Not the weird one that Sylvain had, but an actual smile. If a bit stiff.

“We’ll be fine, I promise.” Miklan laughed a bit nervously. “But, er, thank you…?”

“Holst!” Holst quickly said, maybe a little too quickly if the startled expression on Miklan’s face said anything. “Holst Veltino Goneril! My apologies for not saying so sooner!” 

“...Alright. See you tomorrow then, sir.” And then they left back the way they came, Sylvain giving Hilda one last look of “hey, what’s wrong with your brother” before he and his brother walked out of sight.

A few moments passed. Then Hilda punched Holst in the arm.

“OW-!” Holst practically yelped, clearly too distracted with his lovestruck staring after Miklan to even notice Hilda winding up the punch. “H-Hildy, why-?”

“You were being your usual way-too-much self, that’s why!” Hilda huffed, stomping her foot and crossing her arms. “You fell so hard, you clearly didn’t notice how uncomfortable you were making him!” 

Holst, to his credit, did wince at that. Clearly he hadn’t. Good thing Hilda was there to pick up on that stuff for him.

“Not everyone is used to your overbearing-ness, Holst! I got used to it, because I’m your little sister, so of course I would,” Hilda continued, admittedly ignoring how weird it felt to be lecturing your older brother on stuff like this, “but you just met this Miklan guy! Really, if I were him, I wouldn’t want to come back at all!” 

Holst let out a weird noise at that - it sounded like the noise Hilda made whenever Dad held stuff out of her reach and she actually had to jump to try and grab it, except less tired-from-jumping and more embarrassed-by-what-just-happened. Hilda thinks Dad called it “whining”.

Yeah, he was doing that. Covering his face with his hands and dropping to his knees. If she weren’t used to his dramatics, she might actually be concerned. Instead, Hilda sighed and walked over, bonking Holst on the head - it was only a light tap, promise!

Holst didn’t react to it.

“Hildy, dearest sister, your big brother has messed up terribly. I meet the love of my life, and I end up scaring him away. You’re going to have to tell Dad to find a new heir if I die of heartbreak.”

Hilda wrinkled her nose. “Well, at least you’ll stop trying to tie pillows to me. But I don’t really wanna be heir, so…..live. Or else I’m telling Dad how bad you were about talking to the new guy.”

Holst’s head whipped around to look at her so fast with such wide-eyed horror that Hilda couldn’t stop herself from bursting out laughing.

\-------------------------

Hilda may have gotten all her laughing out yesterday, but she still couldn’t help but giggle every time Holst looked across the field, clearly looking for that Miklan guy and his little brother. It was obvious enough that some of the soldiers under Holst’s command laughed at him about it.

“What’s wrong Captain?” Jenson said with a wobbly grin, as though he was trying not to burst out laughing. “You look like a lovesick puppy with how you keep searching for the newbie!”

Hilda was tempted to mention that if he thought Holst was bad now, then he should’ve seen how badly yesterday went when Holst initially fell head over heels, but she was a good sister and therefore kept quiet.

That, and if Dad couldn’t stop laughing when Hilda told him (much to an embarrassed Holst’s dismay), then he would never hear the end of it from his troops. Ever. They’d probably make fun of him about it to the day he died, and maybe after that.

“I’ve got no clue about what you mean Jenson,” Holst said absentmindedly, very clearly paying more attention into looking for Miklan and Sylvain than he was actually trying to train with his troops. 

“Wow, you’re right, the Captain is like a lovesick puppy.” Erwin sounded like he was in disbelief, a weird laugh coming from him as he and the other soldiers watched Holst scan the field yet again. “Normally, said Captain would have noticed that he completely forgot to even say hello. Guess he’s been really distracted by that new recruit.”

Oh, you have no idea, thought Hilda, trying not to both grimace and laugh remembering how poorly their first meeting went. 

Eventually though, Holst’s expression brightened up. Hilda looked across the training grounds, and wouldn’t you know it, there was Miklan and Sylvain. Neither of them looked very happy to be there, though Miklan looked more nervous and Sylvain more ap...appre...appre-something. Just plain not happy.

“Miklan!” Holst nearly yelled, running over to the man and his brother. He didn’t seem to realize that said man’s eyes widened when Holst began running over as his brother’s eyes just narrowed.

“Wow Hildy,” Karlton said with a snicker, ignoring how Hilda smacked at his leg for using Holst’s dumb nickname for her, “it was just a joke, but your big brother really is smitten with that guy, huh?”

Hilda huffed, but she still nodded. Hey, she wasn’t telling them about the disaster that was yesterday, so it was fine! 

Holst did manage to eventually drag poor Miklan over to the rest of the troops, Sylvain following close behind with a frown on his face. Holst had a rather large grin on his face, considering how unhappy the two he was dragging along seemed to be. 

“Soldiers, we have a new recruit!” Holst proclaimed proudly. “This is Miklan! He’s going to be joining us from here on out, so treat him kindly! His little brother Sylvain will be here as well, observing us!”

After that, Holst’s smile grew strained.

“So please, for the love of the goddess, watch what you say. It’s bad enough you’ve tainted poor innocent Hilda’s ears with your nonsense, I do not want you doing the same to Sylvain’s!”

The entire troop began laughing at that last part, both Hilda and Sylvain included. Miklan seemed to be trying not to laugh, if only to be nice, but the smile on his face said everything about the laughs he was clearly holding back. Holst, for his part, just sputtered.

“I am serious, you know!” He exclaimed, a hand over his heart as though he’d just been betrayed. “You have poisoned my darling little sister’s ears with your “discussions”, and I’m certain that it would be appreciated if you didn’t do the same to Sylvain!”

That only made everyone laugh harder.

“And what if we do, Captain? You gonna wash our mouths out with soap? Like how you tried to wash Hilda’s ears after she heard about-” Jenson began, nearly wheezing, before Holst practically squawked.

“I t-thought we agreed to n-never bring that up!” Holst began turning red, skipping pink entirely out of embarrassment. “And for your information, Jenson, I would have made you run laps around the entire estate! And you know I’ll do it!”

“To be fair Captain,” Karson said between laughs, still pretty wheezy, “you aren’t exactly the most intimidating thing with how red you’re getting. You look like a tomato!”

That, of course, only made Holst turn redder. 

Sylvain turned to Hilda, his shoulders still shaking from laughter as he wiped tears from his eyes. At least he was amused seeing Holst get teased by his own troops - that was one thing they had in common, aside from having older siblings.

“Is-Is your big brother always like this?” He finally managed to say through laughs, and Hilda could only shrug as she laughed along with him. Holst wouldn’t mind anyway - he was too busy trying to get the others to stop laughing.

\---------------------

Hilda tried to keep her giggles down as she hid from Sylvain, standing as still as she could behind the large door. They were playing hide and seek, and for some reason Sylvain never seemed to look behind doors. So Hilda could hide behind the door all she wanted, and Sylvain would never ever find her. 

(Though they might have had a bit of a rough start thanks to Holst’s, er, bad first impression, Hilda was surprised by how quickly she and Sylvain became friends. It started with them both talking about their big brothers, and then somehow the topic shifted to, well, everything else. When Hilda told him that she wanted to try making stuff like hair clips, he visited the next day with a fake flower that he had gotten and said, “Well, you can just do stuff like this right? Then you better make me one once you figure it out!”

Hilda thinks that was the start of their friendship, even though she had smacked him as he laughed.)

Soon enough, she heard footsteps walking into the room she was hiding in. She took a deep breath, forcing herself not to laugh even if there was a huge smile on her face. Though that smile ended up vanishing when she realized that there wasn’t one pair of footsteps walking in, but two. She stayed very quiet, and did her best to try and listen in.

“Why did you want to speak to me in private, Captain?” Hilda’s eyes widened when she realized, oh wait, the people talking were Holst and Miklan! What the heck were they gonna be talking about?

“It’s nothing bad, I promise! And you really don’t have to call me Captain,” Holst said, chuckling a bit as he spoke. “Though you’re still worried about why I called you here, huh?”

“...W-Well, yes-” Miklan began, but didn’t get to finish.

There was a sudden thud, and judging by the gasp from Miklan, Hilda guessed that he had dropped to his knees. Like he always did when he was about to start on his dramatics.

“I called you here, Miky,” Holst began, Hilda struggling not to laugh at both the nickname and Miklan’s confused “Miky?” that she managed to hear as Holst continued speaking, “because I have realized that I’ve not apologized to you properly!”

“...You apologized to me as soon as I entered the training grounds though. Isn’t that enough?” Miklan sounded so genuinely confused that Hilda almost laughed right then and there. 

“Of course not! A simple apology is not enough for how uncomfortable I clearly made you when we first met! I don’t believe I’ll ever be able to apologize enough, really!”

“I-I think you’ve apologized plenty-”

“Which leads me to my offer - once again, I extend my offer of you living on the estate!” Hilda almost groaned, not quite facepalming but still putting a hand over her eyes.

Really? This again? Did he not realize that the offer was probably why Miklan got so uncomfortable in the first place?

“...Did I also not refuse your offer when you first made it?” That hint of discomfort was back in Miklan’s voice, and Hilda wished she could see it! Alas, she was hidden behind the door, and she didn’t think that she could continue listening if she made herself known.

“Well...you did…” Holst let out an embarrassed-sounding laugh. “To be honest, I wasn’t really expecting you to accept this time either. I just wanted you to know that the offer is always gonna be there.”

There was a bit of silence, and Hilda imagined that Miklan didn’t know how to respond. To be fair though, she know wouldn’t either.

“Do you extend this to all of your troops, or am I just a special case?” Miklan eventually said, a bit of a laugh in his voice that reminded Hilda of Dad whenever he was teasing Holst or Hilda.

“E-Er...maybe?”

Complete silence. Hilda might not be able to groan about her brother being a dumb-dumb like she normally would, but she could at least roll her eyes. Really?

“...O-Oh. Y-You’re….you’re serious.” A sort of disbelieving laugh from Miklan as he spoke. “T-That’s, er…I really thought…”

There was a quiet “excuse me”, and suddenly a bunch of thuds. Hilda assumed that was Miklan running from the room, and the thuds following after were from Holst. After waiting a moment, Hilda peeked out from behind the door, making sure that Holst and Miklan were definitely gone before moving from behind the door.

As soon as she did, Sylvain walked up to her, a grin on his face.

“Hey, found you! What’re you so smiley about Hilda?” He asked, tilting his head a bit in curiosity. Hilda just smiled more. This would be fun to tell him.

\----------------------------

Hilda skipped through the halls of the manor, humming a song that Sylvain had taught her. Apparently it was a song from the Holy Kingdom of Faerghus, and the only reason he had taught it to her was because it was stuck in his head and apparently didn’t want to suffer alone anymore. Hilda rolled her eyes. Jokes on him, she actually liked the song a lot, and was gonna be singing it at least _ once _ every time she saw him.

And she had been! He’d taught it to her weeks ago, and she had hummed it under her breath every time she saw him. While the rolling of his eyes and the groans he made when he realized that she was humming the song would say that he was annoyed, the laughter he let afterwards and his attempts to ruffle her hair - not that she let him, always ducking away and playfully smacking his arm away - would say otherwise.

Truthfully though, she wasn’t really expecting to see him today. Miklan didn’t look that good yesterday, and Sylvain seemed to be pushing for them both to go home early. It got to the point that the other troops, who’d normally laugh and tease about Sylvain acting as the older brother rather than the other way around, started agreeing with Sylvain and telling him hey, why don’t you go take a break or something, you aren’t looking too good, y’know?

Holst looked especially worried.

But regardless, she was on her way to the training grounds to see if Miklan had showed up with Sylvain anyway. Best case scenario, he actually felt better and decided to go to training. Worst case scenario….he was actually really bad sick, and he just decided to force himself to go to training. Hilda wrinkled her nose at the thought. Why would you force yourself to do something if you were sick? No point doing something if you felt miserable, right?

She turned the corner, and felt her stomach flip as her humming stopped completely. Leaning against a wall was Miklan, staring at the ground as Sylvain did his best to help keep him upright. If it weren’t for Sylvain, Hilda figured that, Miklan would’ve slumped to the ground - and if not for the wall, he probably would’ve fallen completely. 

Sylvain turned from looking at Miklan with the most worried expression that she had ever seen on him in order to look at her. Immediately his expression melted into one of relief. 

“H-Hey, um, Hilda,” Sylvain started, his expression shifting to worry once again as he looked at his brother, “c-can you go g-get Holst? I-I don’t remember where the infirmary is…”

Hilda just nodded, a knot in her throat as she began running towards the training grounds. Holst should already be there, right? Training started a while ago, didn’t it? If...If he wasn’t there, then where would he be?

Thankfully she didn’t have to worry about that. She ran faster than she had ever run in her life, skidding to a stop as soon as she entered the training grounds. Hilda had to stop then, hands on her knees as she gasped for breath. She hoped that she’d never have to run like that again. Distantly, she heard voices that she knew belonged to Holst’s troops. There were hurried thuds before her, and suddenly she was facing an extremely worried Holst. 

“Hildy?! Hildy, what happened, what’s wrong, are you alright-?!” The worried questions he was asking her started spinning around her head, being said too fast for her to really process them, but she still shook her head. 

“N-Not...Not hurt!” She wheezed, taking several deep breaths before she continued talking. “C-Come on!”

And she began tugging at Holst’s arm, hard enough that he actually stumbled to his feet and began following her out of the training grounds. As soon as she knew he’d be following her, she let go of his arm and started running again. Geez, she was gonna end up with like no breath once she stopped again.

She _ hated _ running, but she couldn’t exactly complain right now, could she?

Hilda ran and ran, skidding to a stop again once she reached where Miklan was, her stomach flipping when she realized that he was no longer standing and instead slumped on the floor, only upright thanks to the wall he was leaning against. Sylvain looked so pale that Hilda was worried he was gonna be sick too. She heard Holst skid to a stop behind her, and a gasp. Holst immediately rushed past her, dropping to his knees in front of Miklan, his hands held out as though he wanted to pick Miklan up but didn’t know if he could. 

“M-Miklan?! What are you doing here, what-” One of Holst’s hands reached up to touch Miklan’s forehead, before recoiling as though he’d been burned. “Goddess, you’re burning up! You should be resting, why are you here?!”

Miklan grimaced in response, his eyes looking all hazy like they do when you’re really, really sick. He didn’t say anything, apparently too out of it to be able to. Hilda walked forward a bit, moving to tap Sylvain on the shoulder. Sylvain looked at her immediately, his eyes wide with fear and worry. 

“My big bro’s gotta pick him up, if we’re going to get to the infirmary quickly,” Hilda said firmly, trying to keep her voice steady. “He’ll be just fine once he gets there! We have really good healers working here!”

Hey, she really liked Miklan, okay? The few times she was with him because Sylvain was left at home, he was really nice to her! He even let her put some of the stuff she made in his hair! So of course Hilda was really worried about it. 

But Sylvain was gonna end up worrying himself into actually being sick (and yes, it can happen, Hilda does not want to talk about the time Holst thought Hilda left the manor on her own) if she didn’t try to calm him down, so that’s what she was gonna do.

Sylvain stared at her for a moment, before nodding and giving a shaky sort of smile. “A-Alright.”

As soon as Sylvain said that, Holst practically scooped Miklan up into his arms like he was a damsel in those fairy-tales Dad read to her. And off he ran, Sylvain and Hilda running off behind him. Hilda hoped that she wouldn’t have to run for a long time after this, her legs hurt a lot and her lungs were basically screaming at her.

Of course, Holst was a lot faster than they were - even though he was carrying a sick and barely-awake Miklan in his arms. By the time they both arrived at the infirmary, Holst had already gone inside. Which meant that the doors were shut tight until he came back out.

As both Hilda and Sylvain tried to catch their breath, Hilda actually sitting down on the floor - something she absolutely hated doing!! - because she was just _ that _ tired from having to run so much. After a couple of minutes though, Sylvain started talking.

“I tried to get him to stay home.” Truthfully, Hilda hadn’t been expecting him to speak until Holst left the infirmary, so hearing him start speaking was a bit of a surprise. It probably showed on her face too. “He looked...really bad. Really really sick. But he wouldn’t listen to me when I told him to stay home.” 

Sylvain’s face scrunched up, as if he was trying not to cry. Though, that didn’t really do much because Hilda could still see his eyes start to get watery. “He’s always doing stuff like that. Putting his own health and stuff last. I hate it.”

He stomped his foot on the ground. Hilda started getting up as soon as he did, both concerned and maybe kind of curious about what he was saying. Sylvain didn’t seem to notice.

“W-Why doesn’t h-he ever think a-about himself?! H-He goes a-and puts o-others first, a-and this is w-what happens!” Sylvain forced out through gritted teeth, the tears in his eyes starting to roll down his face. “H-He’s g-gonna get h-hurt one day, a-and it’s gonna be b-because he let h-himself get h-hurt to s-save someone else, and h-he wouldn’t even be _ mad _-”

His voice cracked at that last word, and he started trying to wipe the tears away before they really fell. Hilda didn’t hesitate before hugging him, never mind that he’d probably end up getting the dress she was wearing wet. This was way more important. 

“I don’t know why your brother is like that,” she began quietly, not knowing what to say to make him feel better but hoping that she could do it anyway, “but you have a chance to change that right? Remind him that he’s still got you to get back home to, and take care of, and he can’t really take care of you if he isn’t taking care of himself.”

Her eyes started feeling like they were burning for some reason, and her grip on Sylvain’s shirt tightened. Why was her heart hurting? It shouldn’t be hurting.

“And remind him that now he’s got all of the soldiers in Holst’s battalion too! And Holst, and me, and, and tell him that if he doesn’t take better care of himself that I’m gonna do _ something _!”

They were both quiet for a moment, before Sylvain’s arms slowly wrapped around Hilda to return the hug. He chuckled a bit, still sounding sad and upset but not as bad as before.

“Something? What something?” Still chuckling, and Hilda huffed from where she was still hugging him.

“Well, I don’t know yet! I’ll figure it out! And it’s only gonna happen if you either don’t tell him or tell him and he doesn’t listen!”

Now Sylvain just laughed, though Hilda’s heart somehow lightened at hearing it rather than hardening at his laughter. What was going on?

“You’ll figure it out, huh?” He let go, and she let go as well in order for him to step away. There were still tear stains on his cheeks, but there was also a big smile on his face. “What are you gonna do? Stick more of the accessories you made in his hair?”

“I said I’d figure it out, stop trying to give me ideas!” She huffed, though the smile on her face betrayed how very not-angry she really was. 

Then the door opened. Hilda whirled around to face her big brother as Sylvain walked up to stand next to her. Holst didn’t look very happy...but he also didn’t look really sad, so that had to be a plus, right?

“What’d they say? Is Miklan gonna be okay?” Sylvain asked before Holst could even speak, the worry back on his face.

“Yes, thank the Goddess.” Both Hilda and Sylvain let out a breath they hadn’t realized they’d been holding. “He’s...Sylvain, your brother is really sick, but he’ll be better after a few days of rest. I assume you’re gonna wanna stay here with him?”

Sylvain nodded his head so fast that it almost looked like a blur. “Of course!”

“Not surprised you said that...you can’t stay in the infirmary, and no I’m not budging on that.” Holst’s “I’m the big brother here and you’re listening to me” expression appeared on his face, just as Sylvain opened his mouth. Probably to ask if he could stay in the infirmary.

Sylvain’s expression crumpled, clearly upset.

“...You can visit him in the morning though. The healers want him to rest for now.” Holst eventually said. Hilda just nodded, before tugging on Sylvain’s arm.

“You heard my big brother,” she started saying, putting a smile on her face to maybe-hopefully get Sylvain to relax a little bit, “we’re just gonna have to wait until morning. Come on, the day’s gonna go by a lot quicker if we just play like we normally do. And you’re gonna be sleeping over too! So that just means we’ve got more time to use up!”

Hilda knew she was rambling by now, and that was a little embarrassing, but Sylvain eventually relented and let Hilda tug him off to go play whatever games they could think of to pass the time until they had to go to sleep.

They tried to act like nothing was wrong, just playing like they normally did - Sylvain even let Hilda put some of the newer things she made in his hair! Even if his hair is kind of short and in turn harder to work with than Miklan’s. But she didn’t say that out loud.

Eventually when they did have to go to sleep - and Holst let them both sleep in the room next to the infirmary, half because Sylvain had begged him to and half because Hilda had begged him to - Sylvain seemed to be out like a light. As soon as his head the pillow on his bed, he started snoring! Who knew that Sylvain snored? Maybe all the worrying he did that day exhausted him or something. But he seemed to be sleeping fine, so Hilda just crawled into her own bed and fell asleep as well.

So forgive her for being a little surprised, and more than a little irritated, that she was being shaken awake by Sylvain early in the day. She usually slept in much later, so what gives? And she said as much.

“Wh-? What’re you wakin’ me up for?” She asked, still half-asleep and not really aware of what was going on.

“I just wanted to go check on Miklan.” That got her up pretty quickly, sitting up and rubbing the sleep away from her eyes.

“The infirmary’s right next door though?” She couldn’t help but point out, a little confused that Sylvain was waking her up to say this.

“Well...I don’t really want to go by myself. And I know you were pretty worried about him too, so…” Sylvain sounded kind of embarrassed to be saying it, but Hilda jonly nodded. 

“Then let’s go, before Holst gets mad because we’re sneaking into the infirmary early.” Hilda grinned a bit as she said that, lowering her voice just in case.

So they both, as quietly as they could, opened the door and began walking to the infirmary. Of course, they both froze when they realized that the door was actually open, soft light coming from within as well as quiet talking.

They both looked at each other. Hilda was almost one hundred percent sure that the confusion on Sylvain’s face was perfectly reflected on hers.

Slowly, Hilda tiptoed towards the door, peeking in carefully. She was surprised - but at the same time, not really? - to see Holst there, sitting by Miklan’s bedside. The latter was surprisingly awake, though he still looked like he was mostly asleep.

She had to strain her ears in order to hear what they were saying.

“...should’ve stayed home. I wouldn’t have been mad if you did - in fact, I’d rather you did stay at home.” Holst seemed to be scolding Miklan, but the worried tone in his voice didn’t really make for a good scolding voice.

“...c-couldn’t...g-gotta work t-to...provide f-for Sylvain…” Miklan spoke so quietly that Hilda almost didn’t hear, though that was probably because of how sick he was.

“And you can do that better if you aren’t sick as hell.” Holst sighed, and only then did Hilda notice that Holst was moving a cloth from Miklan’s head to a bucket, probably filled with water, then back to Miklan’s head.

“..s-still...b-besides…” Miklan seemed to have a dopey grin on his face, and it took Hilda a moment to recognize it as the _ exact look Holst had when they first met wait what _. “I-I...w-wanted...to s-see you…”

Holst seemed to freeze in place, his eyes widening just as much as Hilda’s as his cheeks began turning red. 

“W-What did you say?” He managed to say, but Miklan had already fallen asleep again.

Hilda turned back to Sylvain, his mouth opening and then closing at seeing how wide Hilda’s eyes were. Hilda practically pushed him back to the room, not trusting herself to say anything and focusing on getting back to their room before Holst noticed that anyone was there. Wasn’t that a surprise and a half to find out? She definitely something to tell Sylvain when they were back in the room.

\-------------------------------------

Hilda simply sat in the empty training grounds, not for the first time missing the normal sounds of laughter and, well, training that would normally be happening right now. But right now, they were all on some big mission. So they weren’t here. Sylvain was here too, sure, but he was sleeping in for some reason. Turns out that Sylvain is really, really hard to wake up, and Hilda decided that she didn’t want to waste her time any longer. 

So she sat on one of the benches in the training grounds, just thinking. What was she thinking about? Well, a bunch of stuff really. As she fiddled with the small bunch of flowers she had brought with her, her mind trailed off from how to make these into a little crown and into how...different Miklan acted after that day he collapsed because he came in sick. Which, by the way, he hadn’t done since. And that was months ago!

But really, he did seem to act a bit different. Maybe it wouldn’t seem like it at first glance - after all, he still like Holst was, well, his captain, and he still let Hilda test the accessories she made in his hair. But he seemed...well, maybe not more tense. But he didn’t relax a lot either. He seemed...embarrassed, was the best way Hilda could put it. 

She couldn’t help but giggle a bit. Maybe he remembered what he had said to Holst that first night he was sick. That’d be embarrassing to remember, and it’d probably affect how you acted around whoever it was that you said it to. Kinda like how Holst tripped over himself to make it up to Miklan for that absolute disaster of a first meeting.

Slowly, a frown came across Hilda’s face. She missed her brother, admittedly. The mission they were supposed to be on was gonna take a week, at least, and it’d only been five days. The longest mission he was ever on before that only lasted three days. She definitely wasn’t gonna admit to to his face though - if she told him that, then he’d never wanna leave for mission ever! And Hilda wasn’t sure if she could deal with the constant smothering that would come with a Holst that “didn’t want to leave his poor little baby sister alone for so long if she was gonna miss him that much”.

Her fingers slipped again, and the next flower she had been trying to weave in twisted at a weird angle - which Hilda knew meant that the stem broke. Hilda felt her expression twist into one of annoyance. At this rate, she was gonna run out of flowers before she could even get halfway through this flower crown! 

Hilda groaned, before starting to unweave the flower crown. Clearly she wasn’t gonna be able to finish this if she kept thinking about how much she missed her big brother. He better come back soon, because she really wanted to work on this! Though, she did want to finish it before he came back. Like a present that said, “Congratulations on your first really long mission!”

Distantly, she heard the flapping of wings. Hilda felt her eyes widen in response. Wait, were they back already? Did Holst somehow manage to finish the mission early or something? She wouldn’t put it past him though. Hilda wouldn’t be surprised if Holst had finished the mission early because he missed her so much. 

She looked up and out of the non-existent ceiling (that’s what Dad called it anyway) of the training grounds, and did in fact see a wyvern flying towards them. After a moment, she recognized the wyvern as Vanti - also known as Holst’s wyvern - and felt a smile on her face. A smile that very quickly faded when she realized that the rider of the wyvern was not Holst, but Miklan. 

A sick feeling began to churn in her stomach.

She stood up, still clutching the remains of the flower crown she’d still been unweaving tightly as she waited for Miklan and Vanti to land. Hilda couldn’t stop the lump from forming in her throat, her eyes open wide as she waited.

As soon as they landed, the flower crown fell from her hands.

Holst...Goddess, he looked _ awful _ , there was just so much blood and he didn’t look _ awake _ and _ what had happened during their mission _-?

Miklan dismounted Vanti quickly, still holding Holst close as he eyes darted to Hilda. Distantly, Hilda thought that he probably wasn’t expecting to see her here.

“H-Hilda!” He gasped, his eyes darting between Holst and her with the most _ awful _ and clearly guilt-ridden expression that Hilda had ever seen. “I-I’m - Goddess, I’m sorry, b-but we need to g-get your brother to t-the infirmary-!”

Hilda’s body seemed to be doing most of the thinking for her, because before she realized it she had nodded and turned around, running off in the direction of the infirmary.

With that sick feeling, almost like a hole, growing bigger and deeper in her stomach, Hilda was reminded of how she had done the exact same thing before. Only, this time she wasn’t guiding a very much healthy and whole Holst to a very sick Miklan. This time, she was guiding a very much healthy Miklan, who was holding a very much not healthy - she didn’t want to _ think _ about if there were holes in her _ brother _, so please stop right there brain - Holst. She didn’t like it one bit. If this was the only reason she would ever run, because the ones she cared about were hurt or sick, she never wanted to run again. Not if it meant that they’d get hurt, or sick, or worse. 

Hilda ran faster than she had ever run before, even when Miklan had been sick - trying to ignore how her lungs protested and her legs began hurting. It didn’t take long before they reached the infirmary, and Hilda opened the door for Miklan to dash inside with Holst. A few minutes later, Miklan walked back out with that both guilty and apologetic expression, his clothes stained with blood.

Holst’s blood, her brain unhelpfully reminded her.

“Wh…” She tried, finding that her voice didn’t really want to work with her. Hilda tried to swallow down the lump in her throat and continue. “What happened?”

Miklan flinched when she asked that, before he began staring at the ground. Refusing to look Hilda in the eye. Something twisted in Hilda’s stomach.

“H-How did he g-get...h-hurt?” She forced out, still staring up at Miklan. Miklan, who only seemed to shrink in on himself when she asked. After a moment of silence, he answered.

“...we were ambushed.” His voice was quiet, full of hesitation and guilt. “We were all caught off guard - I....if it weren’t for your brother, I probably wouldn’t be here.”

The parts of Hilda’s insides that weren’t twisting themselves into knots proceeded to fall into that pit that was already forming. Didn’t...didn’t she have this conversation with Sylvain? About how his brother would have gotten hurt because he tried to save someone else? How did Hilda not think her brother would do the same?

Her stupid, terrible, awful, too-nice-for-his-own-dang-good big brother. Who would apparently get hurt trying to protect someone else, completely forgetting about his own life. Hilda was going to smack him if-_ when _ he woke up. Not if. When. And she was gonna tell Dad too! Because...Because Holst had no right to be that dumb!

Hilda didn’t get to think about it much longer after that though. Something about her expression must have given her away, because when Miklan had finally met her eyes he tried to put on a reassuring smile. Emphasis on tried, because he was still just as upset Hilda was.

“T-The healers said he’d be f-fine. T-They’re going to d-do their best, s-so he’ll be okay, r-right?” He sort of mumbled, loud enough that Hilda was able to hear and nod.

Yeah. He’d be fine. They had really good healers. Holst was going to be fine, he had to be. Hilda...Hilda couldn’t even think about the possibility of him not being fine. So he had to be fine, or, or-!

“...Why don’t you go play with Sylvain? I’ll...I’ll let you know what the healers say, I promise. I…” Miklan’s voice got quieter and quieter as he spoke, until Hilda had to strain her ears in order to hear what he was saying. “...I need to tell your f-father what happened.”

Hilda could only numbly nod, slowly walking towards his and Sylvain’s room. Really, it was a guest room, but Miklan and Sylvain had started staying over enough that it was basically theirs. That...that didn’t really matter right now though, did it?

A part of Hilda wanted to blame Miklan for Holst’s situation. The rest of Hilda knew that she wouldn’t be able to.

The walk felt like it took forever and a half, but eventually she made it to the door. Before she could even knock, Sylvain open the door with a bright smile on his face. A bright smile that immediately faded when he saw the somber look on her face.

“What’s wrong? Did something happen?” He asked, voice full of concern.

And Hilda told him. At least, she thinks she did. Next thing she knew, she was crying on the floor, Sylvain basically holding her in his arms and letting her cry. He was moving his hand in circles - though his hand was still kind of shaky, she appreciated the thought. Hilda tried to take in a deep breath, like you were supposed to do when you were trying to calm down, except that she didn’t take in a deep breath at all, she couldn’t do it, heck she could barely even _ breathe _-

And then Sylvain started singing.

It took Hilda a moment to recognize it, but he was singing that song he had taught her, oh so long ago. He sung for a bit longer, and amidst her sad attempts at trying to breathe, she heard him speak.

“C’mon Hildy, I can’t sing the song by myself. You gotta help me remember the rest of the words,” he said with a quick laugh, though he didn’t sound very happy. 

Even still, Hilda found her breathing eventually slowing. Enough that she was able to help Sylvain whenever he fumbled over the words of the song, and eventually singing with him. A few moments passed after they finished.

“...how do you feel now Hilda?” Sylvain eventually asked, the concern in his voice extremely apparent. Hilda couldn’t help but laugh a bit.

“Tired.” She admitted, letting her head rest completely on Sylvain’s shoulder. “Who knew crying was such an exhausting thing to do?”

“I know, that was definitely a surprise to find out.” Sylvian laughed right back. “Wanna just sleep in here? It’s a lot closer than your room is...plus I don’t know _ where _ your room is.”

Hilda ended up nodding, suddenly hit full force by just how tired she was. With a surprising amount of strength, Sylvain picked her up - you mean she could of been asking him to carry her all this time?? - and carried her to one of the two beds in the room, presumably Sylvain’s. She wasn’t able to think about it for too long though, considering she fell asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow. 

When Hilda opened her eyes again, it was dark outside. Sylvain was asleep, snoring away on Miklan’s bed...though Miklan himself was nowhere to be seen. Slowly, she crawled out from under the covers - shivering for a moment because dang it winter was _ cold _ and making the decision to bring one of the blankets with her - and making her way to the infirmary. 

Hey, she was gonna have to lecture her brother for being stupid at some point, might as well do it now.

So she walked and walked, somehow the walk to the infirmary feeling much shorter than the walk away from it. In what felt like no time at all, she arrived at the infirmary. And much like all those months ago, she found the door open, both a light and a voice coming from within.

Carefully, she tiptoed forward until she was right next to the door, and listened.

“...still sleeping, so you won’t hear me.” Hilda wasn’t exactly surprised to hear Miklan’s voice, though she couldn’t help but feel disappointed to realize that Holst was still sleeping. She could still lecture him when he was sleeping, sure, but he just...wouldn’t hear it.

Well, then she would just have to wait until he woke up. And then she realized that Miklan was talking again.

“...why? You shouldn’t have - you shouldn’t be putting your life on the line like that! I...I can’t say that I’m not grateful, but I would rather you have stayed safe than taken that hit for me..” Miklan trailed off, taking a couple of deep breaths. “I...I can’t bear the thought of losing you. I just can’t.”

For what felt like the hundredth time that day, something in Hilda’s stomach twisted, though for a very different reason.

“It’s...It’s funny, really? I...It took you nearly dying for me to realize just _ how _ much I care for you.” A sad, empty-sounding chuckle came from Miklan. Hilda felt her eyes widen, though from what emotion she didn’t know. “When you went down...s-something in me b-broke. I could h-hardly think, h-hardly breathe...all I could focus on was that you had gotten horribly injured protecting me. I...I hate it. I don’t ever want you doing that again, not ever.”

There was a moment of silence, as if Miklan was expecting Holst to respond. 

“...I can hear you now. Proclaiming that you couldn’t possibly let me get hurt, because what kind of captain would you be then? I can tell you the answer to that; a captain who wasn’t recovering from a mortal wound, that’s what.”

Hilda was thinking about making herself known, tugging the blanket tighter around her when she heard Miklan’s next words.

“...I can’t help but love you though…”

Hilda made her decision right then and there. Quietly, she tiptoed away from the infirmary door. Miklan probably wouldn’t have been too happy to realize that she was listening in on his confession - too bad Holst was asleep, he would have been over the moon to hear it.

\-----------------------------

Hilda breathed in the fresh spring air, letting it out with a big sigh as she walked out further into the garden. It was the first day of spring - well, maybe not officially, but it sure felt like spring now. Not on the actual first day of spring, still with the cold bite of winter. This, where the sun was warm but not too warm and the snow had melted away, felt like spring. She was ten years old now, and the incident of Holst getting injured was long behind her.

Okay, she and Dad both teamed up to scold him a heck of a lot for not being more careful, sure. And Dad didn’t give him any missions until long after he was completely better. But Holst didn’t complain much! In fact, he seemed to be a little bit too happy about it, considering he now had more time he could be using to smother Hilda.

It was weird though. He was starting to act like that with Sylvain too! Enough that Sylvain actually asked her about it, complaining all the while about how Holst had tried to wrap him up in blankets when he tripped. Tripped! Hilda had laughed at him...only to remember that he’d done the exact same thing to her when she was a lot younger.

So yeah. That was a bit weird.

Weirder still was how Miklan was acting! Normally, when he let Hilda mess around with his hair, he’d either stay silent or talk about, well, literally anything that wasn’t her brother! Now he was constantly asking her questions about what he liked, what he didn’t, and all that! It had gotten to the point that Hilda actually had to ask him why he was asking so many questions about Holst. 

His face had turned a bright pink - kind of like Holst’s and her hair - and stumbled over his words as he mumbled an answer.

“W-Well, I-I was just, um, j-just wondering - wondering about w-what the c-captain liked! T-that’s, um, that’s all.”

He didn’t ask nearly as many questions after that. Hilda still thought he wasn’t telling the complete truth when she had asked him. 

But anyway, Hilda didn’t really have the time to be thinking about this right now. Holst’s birthday was coming up, and Hilda wanted to try making a flower crown again. So she was going to the garden to go look for flowers that were nice enough to use.

Don’t worry, she already told the gardener about her plans. He didn’t mind, so long as she didn’t mess up the flowers she didn’t pick.

So on her way she went, looking through the gardens and occasionally picking a flower if she liked it enough. Maybe she could have had Sylvain help her, but he wouldn’t know what flowers to pick. Besides, apparently he was working on a present for Miklan. No, his birthday wasn’t any time soon, Sylvain just wanted a head start. Hilda just sort of shrugged at that and left him to work on...whatever it was that he was working on.

She had just started reaching to pick this pretty little red flower - and it wasn’t a rose, she knew that much - when she heard something. Something that sounded a lot like voices. Hilda raised an eyebrow at the realization. Was there someone else supposed to be in the garden today? It better not be Holst. This was supposed to be a surprise, and that’d be ruined if he spotted Hilda in the garden.

She tried to look around, seeing if she could spot where the voices were coming from. She didn’t see anyone, so she kept going. Eventually, her eyes landed on the gazebo where Dad would usually have tea parties with her, and her eyes widened.

Sitting there, at the table, having a little tea party of their own, was Holst and Miklan! Hilda felt her mouth open wide in a silent gasp, but she quickly closed it. And hid behind one of the hedges before either of them had the chance to spot her. At least from here, she could clearly listen in. And listen in she did, her own task in the back of her mind as she focused on listening to what they were saying.

“I’m still surprised that you went out of your way to invite me to tea!” Holst said with a laugh, Hilda peeking out enough to see the smile on his face.

Miklan laughed as well, though it was more nervous-sounding that Holst’s. “Y-Yeah...thought you'd, um, enjoy it. Y-You are, right?”

“Of course I am!” Holst replied almost immediately. “Why wouldn’t I be? You invited me out on a date! This might as well be the happiest day of my life!”

Dead silence. Hilda almost smacked herself - really Holst? Really? She only barely had to peek around the hedge to see how bright red Miklan’s face had gone.

“...Ah.” Now Holst sounded just as embarrassed as Miklan looked. “I’m sorry if I made you uncomfortable again. I can leave-”

“No!” Hilda’s eyes widened when she heard Miklan suddenly yell, cutting Holst off completely. There was another moment of silence, before Miklan spoke again. “I-I mean, y-you don’t have to...I-I actually h-had something I wanted to t-tell you.”

Hilda didn’t think her eyes could get any wider. Something Miklan wanted to tell Holst? What could it be? A smile slowly spread across her face - she was definitely going to have something to tell Sylvain after all this. Carefully, she peeked her head out from around the hedge - not enough that they’d see her easily, but enough that she could easily see them.

“H-Huh? R-Really?” Holst sounded surprised, his eyes wide. “W-Well…what did you want to tell me?”

Miklan seemed to take a deep breath, closing his eyes for a moment before-

“I’minlovewithyouHolstandIwanttocourtyouplease!”

Hilda blinked. Then her mouth dropped open, hastily closing it a few seconds after. Wait, what?!

Holst seemed to take just as long to process what Miklan had said. Slowly his face went from as pink as his hair to as red as the flowers Hilda had been picking - that’s right, she still had to go do that, huh? Anyway, she could do that later, she reasoned as she watched Holst’s mouth drop open just like hers had.

“W-Wait, y-you - Goddess, y-you’re serious.” Holst laughed, like the sort of laugh that you do when you don’t know what else to do. A smile began spreading across his face. 

“W-What-of course I’m serious! D-Did y-you think I-” Miklan had started sounding hurt, but Hilda didn’t get to know what he was gonna say.

Why? Because Holst grabbed him by the front of his shirt and just kissed him! Right then and there!

Hilda felt her nose wrinkle in disgust, going back to hiding behind the hedges. Hey, she didn’t want to see her brother being all mushy and sappy, and she definitely didn’t want to see him kissing! That wasn’t why she was watching! Although…

Hilda smiled to herself, quickly running off towards the manor. She had to go tell her now-officially new brother (because really, at this point they were basically siblings) what had just happened. Something told her that Miklan and Holst were going to be busy “talking” for a while.

\----------------------

“Apparently Count Gloucester is going to be visiting today.” Hilda and Sylvain looked up from the accessory Hilda was making - really, Hilda looked up from the accessory and Sylvain tried to peek before she covered it with her hands - and gave him rather questioning looks.

“Who?” Sylvain asked, looking rather confused.

“Count Gloucester. He’s the head of the second most prominent house in the Alliance, behind House Riegan. He wished to visit in order to discuss the possibility of his son and Hildy getting engaged.” Holst’s nose wrinkled at that, and Hilda felt her face scrunch up as well. Not just because of the nickname.

“Hmph. Well, whoever this count’s son is, if he’s a jerk, I’m gonna scare him off,” Sylvain muttered, looking way more determined about scaring off this mystery kid than he probably should be. Not that Hilda really minded at all.

Holst nodded approvingly at Sylvain’s declaration. Then his serious expression turned into a dopey grin - one that Sylvain and Hilda shared a wince at. Oh no.

“Now, come on. Miky promised to meet us in the garden - and what kind of boyfriend would I be if I kept my beloved waiting?”

Sylvain at least tried to hold back his groan. Hilda didn’t even. Ever since he and Miklan began courting, Holst was constantly gushing about Miklan this, Miklan that, and while it was sweet at first, at this point Hilda wanted to smother him with a pillow. 

Just to stop Holst from going into another “I love my darling Miklan with all my heart” rant, Sylvain and Hilda got up to follow him to the garden. Hilda still kept her hands tight around the accessory she was making, much to Sylvain’s obvious disappointment. Although, they didn’t quite make it to the garden. Miklan had stopped them before they were even halfway there - and though he did smile a bit when Holst greeted him with a kiss on the cheek, it quickly faded.

“Count Gloucester and his son are both here, and waiting in the entrance hall,” he said quietly. Holst nodded, and smiled apologetically.

“We’ll meet you in the garden after this meeting, alright?” He said quietly, and Miklan nodded, the smile returning to his face. Holst and Hilda then started walking to the entrance hall while Miklan took Sylvain with him to the garden. Hilda didn’t like it, but they also didn’t know if Count Gloucester would be okay with Miklan and Sylvain being there.

It didn’t take long until they had arrived. Dad was already there, speaking to an old, kind of mean-looking man with purple while a boy - also with purple hair - sat next to him, staring at his hands in his lap. When he heard them walk in, Dad turned and greeted them with a somewhat tense smile. Hilda didn’t like that smile.

“Hilda, Holst, this is Count Gloucester,” he said, gesturing to the old man, who gave an...admittedly kind of weird and creepy smile. Hilda liked that even less.

Then Dad gestured to the boy, who was still staring at his hands, like he was forcing them to stay still. Count Gloucester nudged the boy, who quickly looked away from his hands and at Hilda. His eyes were wide. Absentmindedly, Hilda thought he looked kind of anxious about being there.

“And this,” Dad continued, the smile on his face growing less tense and more relaxed, “is his son, Lorenz Hellman Gloucester.”

**Author's Note:**

> Commentator: I hope they get away...Fraldarius or Galatea territory at least.
> 
> Me: so they're gonna go a little further than that
> 
> also i spent literally 30minutes trying to post this haha rip


End file.
